Andy Hug

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Andy Hug
Born	Andreas Hug September 7, 1964(1964-09-07) Wohlen, Switzerland
Died	August 24, 2000 (aged 35) Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Other names	Tetsujin Iron man in Japanese
Nationality	Switzerland
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	98 kg (220 lb; 15.4 st)
Style	Kyokushin
Team	Team Andy
Years active	1985–2000
Kickboxing record
Total	47
Wins	37
By knockout	22
Losses	9
Draws	1
Other information
Notable students	Xhavit Bajrami
Official website

Andy Hug (born (September 7, 1964 – August 24, 2000) was a professional Swiss Seidokaikan and Kyokushin karateka and kickboxer from Wohlen, Switzerland. Hug was the K-1 World Grand Prix 1996 champion and runner up in 1997 and 1998.

Biography and career

Andy Hug was born on September 7, 1964 in Zurich, Switzerland. Andy never met his father, Arthur, a foreign legionnaire, who died in mysterious circumstances in Thailand. He seldom saw his mother Madelaine Hug-Baumann, and together with his brother Charly and sister Fabienne, grew up with his grandparents in Wohlen. He was six, when he started playing football. At eleven, he started practicing karate.

Karate career

At the age of fifteen, he won the Swiss national 'Oyama Cup'. At seventeen, he had established himself as a member of the elite national Kyokushinkai karate team.

Andy recorded his first international success in 1981 at the Dutch Kyokushinkai Karate Championships. Two years later, he took first place at the European Cup in Hungary. In 1983, Andy took part in the karate world championships. Around eighty fighters from all over the world were at the start of the open weight class. Andy was able to battle his way through and reached the final sixteen. He made his second world championships in 1987. In the semi-finals, Andy defeated his opponent Akira Masuda and for the first time in the history of Kyokushinkai, a non-Japanese fighter, was taking part in the finals. Andy lost the fight by a controversial point decision to Shokei Matsui.

The fifth world championships of full-contact karate no weight divisions took place in 1991 at the Budokan, Tokyo, Japan. As early as 1988, Andy had become trainer for the Swiss national team, thus providing his knowledge and experience for other competitors. In his third fight, Andy came up against Francisco Filho. At the end of the round at the bell Filho landed a high kick on the side of Hug's head and knocked Andy to the floor. Mas Oyama confirmed that the technique was legal. It was later confirmed that Filho's kick had indeed struck after the bell, but he had started his move before the time was up and Filho was declared the winner.

Andy kept fighting in Japan with a success and became extremely popular. The fans were impressed by his technical diversity, spectacular aesthetics, tactics and strength. On August 28, 1993 Andy married Ilona in Inwil. At the same time he had changed from Kyokushinkai to Seidokai karate, completing the step from being an amateur to becoming a professional fighter and star in Japan.

K-1 career

The Seidokai Association, headed by Kazuyoshi Ishii, founded K-1 in 1993. In 1994 Andy promoted his first K-1 Fight Night at the Hallenstadium in Zurich, which was to form a bridge for the martial art from Japan to Europe.

In the autumn of 1996, Andy was struggling within himself that he wasn't managed so far to win the K-1 World Grand Prix. In his second fight at the K-1 1996 GP Finals he met Ernesto Hoost in semis and after extra round, Andy won by decision. In the final, Andy was matched up against Mike Bernardo. After his two defeats to Bernardo in 1995 this time Andy went all out and knocked him out and was declared the 1996 K-1 Grand Prix champion.

Andy Hug reached K-1 Grand Prix finals again in 1998. He had a tough fight with Sam Greco in the semis and was unable to assert himself over Peter Aerts in the finals and had to be satisfied with a second place.

1999 was the most successful year for K-1 since its inception. Record numbers of spectators were recorded for all tournaments. In the first half of that year, Andy provided his fans with sensational fights. However at the World Grand Prix, fate wrecked his plans. In the second bout, he was up against Ernesto Hoost. As early as in the first round, the groin injury that he had sustained a month earlier became acute. This handicap was so severe that he could not employ his legs as he was used to doing. He had to admit defeat on points and accept it whether he liked it or not.

In Japan he was given the name "Blue-Eyed Samurai", even though he had brown eyes. He was the only K-1 fighter ever to be rewarded an honorary samurai title by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii^{[citation needed]}.

Andy was also recognized for his axe kick and the spinning low heel kick, targeting the opponents thigh, was another trademark kick of his. In Japan, it was known as "the Hug Tornado" since it was rumored that no other fighter could perform it with the same perfection as Hug.

Andy defeated Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipović at K-1 Fight Night, on June 3, 2000, in Zurich, Switzerland. His last fight was against Nobu Hayashi on July 7, 2000. Andy Hug died in August 24, 2000 as a result of leukemia a few weeks short of his 36th birthday. Andy's body was cremated and his ashes deposited in the cemetery of the Hoshuin temple in Kyoto, Japan.^[1]

Kickboxing record

37 Wins (21 (T)KO's, 16 decisions), 9 Losses, 1 Draw, 0 No contest Date Result Opponent Event Method Round Time 2000-07-07 Win Nobu Hayashi K-1 Spirits 2000 KO (Punch) 1 2:05 2000-06-03 Win Mirko Filipović K-1 Fight Night 2000 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 2000-04-23 Win Glaube Feitosa K-1 The Millennium Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 2000-03-19 Win Musashi K-1 Burning 2000 Decision (Majority) 5 3:00 1999-12-05 Loss Ernesto Hoost K-1 World GP 1999 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 1999-10-05 Win Hiromi Amada K-1 World Grand Prix 1999 Final elimination TKO (3 Knockdowns) 1 1:51 1999-08-22 Win Maurice Smith K-1 Spirits 1999 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1999-06-05 Win Stefan Leko K-1 Fight Night 5 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1999-04-25 Win Ray Sefo K-1 Revenge 1999 TKO (Corner stoppage) 4 3:00 1999-02-03 Win Tsuyoshi Nakasako K-1 Rising Sun 1999 KO (Right Rear Turning Kick) 2 0:22 1998-12-13 Loss Peter Aerts K-1 World Grand Prix 1998 KO (Kick) 1 1:10 1998-12-13 Win Sam Greco K-1 World Grand Prix 1998 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 1998-12-13 Win Ray Sefo K-1 World Grand Prix 1998 TKO 2 2:28 1998-10-28 Win Miyamoto Masaaki K-1 Japan '98 Kamikaze KO (Punch) 1 2:50 1998-09-27 Win Mark Russell K-1 World GP 1998 Opening KO (Left Low Kick) 2 3:07 1998-08-07 Win Mike Labree K-1 World GP 1998 in Las Vegas KO (Kick) 1 2:11 1998-06-06 Win Peter Aerts K-1 Fight Night 4 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1998-04-09 Win Curtis Shuster K-1 Kings 1998 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1997-11-09 Loss Ernesto Hoost K-1 World Grand Prix 1997 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 1997-11-09 Win Peter Aerts K-1 World Grand Prix 1997 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 1997-11-09 Win Masaaki Satake K-1 World Grand Prix 1997 KO (Left High Kick) 1 0:15 1997-09-07 Win Pierre Guenette K-1 World GP 1997 Opening KO (Right hook) 1 1:49 1997-07-20 Loss Francisco Filho K-1 Dreams 1997 KO (Punch) 1 2:37 1997-06-07 Win Mike Bernardo K-1 Fight Night 1997 Decision (Majority) 5 3:00 1997-04-29 Draw Sam Greco K-1 Braves 1997 KO (Right hook) 5 3:00 1997-03-16 Loss Peter Aerts K-1 Kings 1997 TKO (Punch) 1 1:55 1996-12-08 Win Musashi K-1 Hercules 1996 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1996-10-18 Win Masaaki Satake K-1 Star Wars 1996 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1996-09-01 Win Stan Longinidis K-1 Revenge 1996 KO (Punch) 2 2:00 1996-06-02 Win Sadau Keatsongrit K-1 Fight Night 2 TKO 2 3:02 Wins K-1 World Grand Prix 1996 1996-05-06 Win Mike Bernardo K-1 World Grand Prix 1996 KO (Kick) 2 1:18 1996-05-06 Win Ernesto Hoost K-1 World Grand Prix 1996 Ext. Round Decision (Majority) 4 3:00 1996-05-06 Win Duane Van Der Merwe K-1 World Grand Prix 1996 KO (Punch) 1 0:40 1996-03-10 Win Bart Vale K-1 World GP 1996 Opening TKO 1 2:24 1995-12-09 Win Jerome Le Banner K-1 Hercules 1995 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1995-09-03 Loss Mike Bernardo K-1 Revenge 2 KO (Punch) 2 2:43 1995-07-16 Loss Ernesto Hoost K-1 Legend 1995 Decision (Unanimous) 3 3:00 1995-06-10 Win Dennis Lane K-1 Fight Night 1995 TKO (Corner Stoppage) 2 3:00 1995-05-04 Win Peter Kramer K-1 World Grand Prix 1995 KO (Left overhand) 1 0:45 1995-03-03 Loss Mike Bernardo K-1 World GP 1995 Opening TKO (Ref. stop/punches) 3 2:39 1994-12-10 Win Rob Van Esdonk K-1 Legend 1994 KO (Left punch) 4 0:55 1994-10-02 Win Jeff Roufus K-1 Karate World Cup 1994-09-18 Win Patrick Smith K-1 Revenge 1994 KO (Left knee) 1 0:56 1994-04-30 Loss Patrick Smith K-1 Grand Prix '94 KO (Right uppercut) 1 0:19 1994-03-04 Win Branko Cikatic K-1 Challenge 1994 Decision (Unanimous) 5 3:00 1993-12-19 Win Eric Albert K-2 World Grand Prix 1993 KO (Punches) 2 2:08 1993-11-05 Win Ryuji Murakami K-1 Andy's Glove KO (Right hook) 1 2:10 1993-04-30 Win Nobuaki Kakuda K-1 Grand Prix '93 KO (Left knee strike) 1 1:26 Legend:       Win       Loss       Draw/No contest       Notes

See also

• List of male kickboxers
• List of K-1 events
• Full contact Karate
• List of kickboxing organizations

References

External links

• Andy Hug - Official Website
• Andy Hug Foundation - The Foundation
• Andy Hug Portrait
• K-1sport.de - Complete Fighters Profile of Andy Hug

v • d • e Karateka Terutomo Yamazaki · Akira Masuda · Seisho Arakaki · Steve Arneil · Hideyuki Ashihara · Rafael Aghayev · Steven Bellamy · Billy Blanks · Tino Ceberano · Howard Collins · Chosin Chibana · Motobu Chōki · Motobu Chōyū · Francisco Filho · Glaube Feitosa · Mr Miyagi · Kyan Chotoku · Keinosuke Enoeda · Gichin Funakoshi · Gigō Funakoshi · Alexander Gerunov · Shinpan Gusukuma · Mitsusuke Harada · Kanryo Higaonna · Morio Higaonna · Loek Hollander · Andy Hug · Seikichi Iha · Anko Itosu · Nobuaki Kakuda · Hirokazu Kanazawa · Shokei Matsui · Sokon Matsumura · Kenwa Mabuni · Lyoto Machida · Miyuki Miura · Tadashi Nakamura · Akira Masuda · Joko Ninomiya · Chuck Norris · Hironori Ōtsuka · Masutatsu Ōyama · Katsuaki Sato · Egami Shigeru · Masanao Takazawa · Ewerton Teixeira · Kenji Tokitsu · Luca Valdesi · Gogen Yamaguchi · John Jarvis